Joanne Jacobs
Only the education-rich can afford laissez-faire schools
Monogamy is "outdated," Troubled author Rob Henderson's Yale classmate told him. She's been raised in a stable, two-parent family and...
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Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 26
- 2 min
Harris thrills teachers' union, sticks to progressive orthodoxy
"God knows, we don't pay you enough," Kamala Harris told teachers at the American Federation of Teachers convention in Houston. That went...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 24
- 1 min
Post-Covid kids are unfocused, poorly behaved and -- surprise! -- learning less
Student behavior hasn't recovered from the pandemic, says a federal survey of public schools.
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 20
- 2 min
Judge: 1st-graders' free-speech rights don't matter
After a lesson on Martin Luther King Jr. at a southern California elementary school, a seven -year-old white girl drew a picture with...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 15
- 2 min
Teachers' unions are soft on student behavior: Is this what teachers want?
Teachers' unions want "all the things," said National Education President Becky Pringle at the annual convention. Why isn't one of those...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 7
- 2 min
'Learn to joke,' say teens who faked teacher TikToks with sex, pedophilia
Middle school is the worst. Kids hit puberty and turn deeply stupid for a few years before they learn to handle it. Even so, the seventh...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 1
- 2 min
Teachers don't have time to be therapists, cops, nurses and social workers
“Students who are habitually ungovernable should be removed from teachers’ classrooms so teachers can actually teach and students can...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 24
- 2 min
'Teachers don't want combat pay,' they want an end to combat
Raising teacher pay won't raise student achievement or keep teachers from quitting if working conditions are bad.
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 12
- 2 min
'No excuses' model rebounds: 'A lot of anti-racist practices don't work'
Achievement fell in charters that replaced the "no excuses" model with "anti-racist practices."
Joanne Jacobs
- May 31
- 1 min
Teachers should keep their politics to themselves, say parents
Parents overwhelmingly say teachers should keep their politics out of the classroom.
Joanne Jacobs
- May 15
- 2 min
Teachers say students' behavior is bad, and getting worse
Half of U.S. teachers say most of their students exhibit poor or fair behavior, according to a Pew survey. The numbers are almost...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 1
- 2 min
To stop bullying, bring back consequences -- and to hell with 'root causes'
AI-powered “nudification” apps are letting teenage boys turn real photos of their clothed classmates into "deepfake" porn to be shared...
Joanne Jacobs
- Apr 2
- 2 min
Why I quit teaching: Pay was OK, but not the loss of autonomy
Ben Stein quit teaching after 20 years as a teacher and coach in the West Des Moines school district, he writes on USA Today. He was...
Joanne Jacobs
- Mar 18
- 2 min
Old school: Strict and safe is making a comeback
"Super strict schools" are "increasingly popular" in England, writes Emma Bubola in the New York Times. She focuses on Michaela, an...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 24
- 2 min
'No excuses' school guru passes on: Will excellence survive?
Linda Brown, who trained hundreds of charter leaders as leader of (Building Excellent Schools (ES), has died at the age of 81. Many of...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 24
- 3 min
Teachers are fed up with student misbehavior, classroom chaos
The "new normal" of student behavior -- a toxic mix of disrespect, disruption, violence and apathy -- is driving teachers to despair,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Dec 7, 2023
- 2 min
Portland will consider race, gender to 'support' disruptive students
Portland (OR) schools will design "support plans" for disruptive students that consider trauma, race, gender identity/presentation and...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 6, 2023
- 1 min
None dare call it 'behaviour'
Students in Australia report "shocking levels of classroom disruption in international surveys," and schools face "a worsening teacher...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 25, 2023
- 2 min
Schools spend $20 billion a year for equity training, but does it work?
Public schools spend billions on equity training, but have no idea what works, writes Katherine Reynolds Lewis in USA Today. "None of the...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 1, 2023
- 3 min
Sympathy for the disruptor
A student walks into class 10 minutes late and yells, "What's up, bitches?" What's a teacher to do? To cope with a rising tide of student...
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